PAUL was an unwearied worker. He traveled
constantly from place to place, sometimes through inhospitable regions, sometimes on the
water, through storm and tempest. He allowed nothing to hinder him from doing his work. He
was the servant of God and must carry out His will. By word of mouth and by letter he bore
a message that ever since has brought help and strength to the church of God. To us,
living at the close of this earth's history, the message that he bore speaks plainly of
the dangers that will threaten the church, and of the false doctrines that the people of
God will have to meet.

From country to country and
from city to city Paul went, preaching of Christ and establishing churches. Wherever he
could find a hearing, he labored to counterwork error and to turn the feet of men and
women into the path of right. Those who by his labors in any place were led to accept
Christ, he organized into a church. No matter how few in number they might be, this was
done. And Paul did not forget the churches thus established. However small a church might
be, it was the object of his care and interest.

Paul's calling demanded of
him service of varied kinds--working with his hands to earn his living, establishing
churches, writing letters to the churches already established. Yet in the midst of these
varied

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labors he declared, "This one thing I do." (Phil. 3:13.) One aim he kept
steadfastly before him in all his work--to be faithful to Christ, who, when he was
blaspheming His name and using every means in his power to make others blaspheme it, had
revealed Himself to him. The one great purpose of his life was to serve and honor Him
whose name had once filled him with contempt. His one desire was to win souls to the
Saviour. Jew and Gentile might oppose and persecute him, but nothing could turn him from
his purpose.

Paul
Reviews His Experience

Writing to the Philippians,
he describes his experience before and after his conversion. "If any other man
thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh," he says, "I more:
circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of
the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee; concerning zeal, persecuting the church;
touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless." Phil. 3:4-6.

After his conversion his
testimony was:
"Yea verily, and I count all things to be loss for the excellency of the knowledge of
Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but
refuse, that I may gain Christ, and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of mine
own, even that which is of the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the
righteousness which is from God by faith." Phil. 3:8, 9, A.R.V.

The righteousness that
heretofore he had thought of so much worth was now worthless in his sight. The longing of
his soul was: "That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the
fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His

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death; if by any means I
might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. Not as though I had already attained,
either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which
also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren I count not myself to have apprehended:
but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto
those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling
of God in Christ Jesus." Phil. 3:10-14.

An
Adaptable Worker

See him in the dungeon at
Philippi, where, despite his pain-racked body, his song of praise breaks the silence of
midnight. After the earthquake has opened the prison doors, his voice is again heard, in
words of cheer to the heathen jailer, "Do thyself no harm: for we are all
here"--every man in his place, restrained by the presence of one fellow prisoner. And
the jailer, convicted of the reality of that faith which sustains Paul, inquires the way
of salvation, and with his whole household unites with the persecuted band of Christ's
disciples.

See Paul at Athens before the
council of the Areopagus, as he meets science with science, logic with logic, and
philosophy with philosophy. Mark how, with the tact born of divine love, he points to
Jehovah as the "Unknown God," whom his hearers have ignorantly worshiped; and in
words quoted from a poet of their own, he pictures Him as a Father whose children they
are. Hear him, in that age of caste, when the rights of man as man were wholly
unrecognized, as he sets forth the great truth of human brotherhood, declaring that God
"hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the
earth." Then he

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shows how, through all the dealings of God with man, run like a
thread of gold His purposes of grace and mercy. He "hath determined the times before
appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; that they should seek the Lord, if haply
they might feel after Him, and find Him, though He be not far from every one of us."

Hear him in the court of
Festus, when King Agrippa, convicted of the truth of the gospel, exclaims, "Almost
thou persuadest me to be a Christian." With what gentle courtesy does Paul, pointing
to his own chain, make answer, "I would to God, that not only thou, but also all that
hear me this day, were both almost, and altogether such as I am, except these bonds."

Thus passed his life, as
described in his own words, "in journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of
robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the
city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren;
in weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often,
in cold and nakedness." 2 Cor. 11:26, 27.

Although he was a prisoner
for a great length of time, yet the Lord carried forward His special work through him. His
bonds were to be the means of spreading the knowledge of Christ and thus glorifying God.
As he was sent from city to city for his trial, his

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testimony concerning Jesus and the
interesting incidents of his own conversion were related before kings and governors, that
they should be left without excuse concerning Jesus. Thousands believed on Him and
rejoiced in His name.

I saw that God's special
purpose was fulfilled in the journey of Paul upon the sea; He designed that the ship's
crew might thus witness the power of God through Paul, and that the heathen also might
hear the name of Jesus, and that many might be converted through the teaching of Paul and
by witnessing the miracles he wrought. Kings and governors were charmed by his reasoning,
and as with zeal and the power of the Holy Spirit he preached Jesus and related the
interesting events of his experience, conviction fastened upon them that Jesus was the Son
of God.